Battle of Toad Town

Parakarry flew swiftly over Toad Town, eager to report to Sheik and the Master about his findings. His turquoise shell glistened in the mid-morning sun as he dived straight toward the northern gate, where Sheik and the Master were waiting patiently. His wings fluttered to stop him just before he touched down.

"What do you cough have for us?" the Master asked, keeping his arms folded behind his back.

"I've spotted enemy forces approaching from Goomba Road and Pleasant Path," the winged Parakoopa replied, "but nothing in the sea to the south."

"Perhaps they've changed their minds about attacking from the south," the Master mused, before going into a bout of coughing.

"Have the sewers been sealed per my request?" Sheik asked, looking over to Bombette.

"Trust me," the pink bob-omb winked. "Nothing is getting through there for a while. I collapsed every passageway with a warp pipe."

"And the civilians?" Sheik asked.

"In safety behind this gate as planned," the Master answered.

"Very good," Sheik said. Then he turned on his walkie-talkie and spoke, "Prepare yourselves. The enemy is near. Hold them at the gates." The Master made a suggestive cough. "…Sorry…over." Then, Sheik looked around his vicinity. "Where is Luigi?"

"No one's seen him for days," Parakarry replied with a frown. "He might've gone looking for Mario."

"Very well," Sheik nodded. "Report to battle stations." Everyone snapped a salute and went their separate ways. Bombette and the blue shelled Kooper scurried toward the eastern gate, while the Master and his pupils hurried toward the western gate. Sheik nodded to Parakarry, signaling him to take to the skies and be an eye in the sky. Sheik's personal squad was to watch the southern gate and provide support if the other forces ever got pushed back.

The Mushroom Kingdom was fighting successfully at the end of Pleasant Path. Kooper was blazing through lines of exploding Bob-ombs in the protection of his shell. Bombette dived into the fray with a blast that wiped out an entire squad of enemy Koopas. The few Koopas and Bob-ombs that weren't loyal to Bowser tried to emulate their leaders as best they could. The Toad soldiers struck down the weaker enemies like Goombas and injured Koopas. After only half an hour, Bowser's forces had been almost pressed back to the abandoned Koopa Village.

Meanwhile, Bowser's forces were being beaten even worse on Goomba Road. The Master, in his golden outfit, was plowing through Goombas and Koopas effortlessly. The Toad soldiers took care of anything that he left behind. In only a few minutes, Bowser's forces had retreated back onto the bridge. In a final punch, the Master destroyed the bridge, sending many of the enemy forces to their doom, and assuring that the monsters would have a harder time getting back. The remaining Troopas and Goombas retreated through the mini-fortress.

Parakarry reported his findings to Sheik via radio.

"Very good," Sheik replied. "The enemy is falling back." After a moment of silence, one of his soldiers coughed and glanced at him. "…Over."

"Commander?" Kooper radioed in. "This is Kooper. We've got them on the run! Should we chase them all the way back to the fortress, over?"

"Fortress?" Sheik thought. "No, that's too big of a risk for now. However, try to secure that village…over."

"Yes, sir, over," Kooper radioed out.

"Sir!" Parakarry called in. "Enemy air forces are coming in fast, over."

"All squadrons, ready your fire flowers, over!" Sheik commanded.

As Bombette and Kooper secured Koopa Village with the rest of their squadron, they found themselves suddenly surrounded by cloud-riding Lakitus, broom-riding Magikoopas, and hundreds of winged Paratroopas. The toads raised their fire flowers and fired at anything they could hit. Most of the flying enemies dodged the fireballs and jets of flame and began to dive bomb the toad army. The Lakitus tossed their Spinies with precision, making sure that if no one was directly hit, the Spinies could pursue them on their own. The real trouble started when the Magikoopas began blasting away with their wands. More and more of the Mushroom Kingdom's forces were being downed by the blasts. Some were even being turned into random objects like bricks, stones, and mushrooms. Suddenly, a winged turquoise shell jetted through the skies, knocking nearly every airborne creature out of the sky, and leaving streams of smoke in its wake.

"Thanks, Parakarry!" Kooper shouted out to the Parakoopa. Parakarry took care of the enemies that hadn't been knocked out of the air, like the Lakitus. Kooper continued to blaze across the ground in his fiery shell, taking out anything in his way. Bombette blasted anything she could. The other soldiers did everything they could to hold off the enemy forces. Despite their best efforts, the enemy was closing in around them.

The Master called his troops to attention when he saw new forces approaching the cliff. A squad of giant Thwomps stomped straight toward the cliff. The living blue stones began to lay themselves into place, forming a 3x7 Thwomp bridge. A legion of spiked Spiny shells slid out of the mini-fortress and across the Thwomp bridge. The Mushroom forces raised their shields to block the oncoming shells. Most of them bounced off of the shields harmlessly. Suddenly, Bob-ombs began flying out of the fortress and into their midst, breaking their formation. The Master ordered his soldiers to charge and storm the fortress. As soon as they stepped on the first row of Thwomps, the stone creatures grunted. At that signal, a giant Bullet Bill poked its face out of the fortress, while Bob-ombs continued to be lobbed out of the roof.

"Fall back!" the Master ordered. The Bullet Bill rocketed out of the fortress and blasted into the ranks of the Mushroom forces. As soon as all the bodies hit the ground, another toothy-grinned Bill poked its face out of the mini-fortress. The Master stood up amongst his fallen comrades and readied himself. As soon as the living bullet shot out of fortress, the Master caught it, and in one spin, redirected the creature back at the fortress. The stone structure exploded into a ball of fire that blew everything away from it. Exploding Bob-ombs rained all around. Once they stopped falling, no other forces appeared for the moment. The Master surveyed his surroundings and found very few of his soldiers still moving, let alone standing. Then he heard a roar in the distance. The ground began to shake as if giant footsteps were jogging toward him. After seeing shadows in the smoke, several giant Koopas stomped across the Thwomp bridge in single-file. They didn't look like normal giant Koopas either. They had jagged ridges on their shells, narrow, soulless eyes, and large fangs in their sharp bills. Many of them seemed discolored; some were close to being blue and purple. Each was nearly as large as Bowser himself.

"Reeeaaah!" the first giant screeched, aiming to tackle the Master. He sidestepped out of the way and tripped the giant, who crashed to the ground. The next behemoth tried to leap onto him, just as he dived out of the way. Even as he fended them off with various kicks, punches, and counters, more and more charged over the Thwomp bridge. Soon enough, giant Koopas surrounded him. As hard as he tried, he wasn't able to prevent a few from slipping through the West Gate.

As soon as the giant Koopas burst through the gate, a flurry of fireballs came their way. They continued on their charge, only seeming annoyed by the flames from the fire flowers. What did stop them was the sudden shock from the ground, causing them to instantly withdraw into their shells. One of the toad soldiers had used a POW block. The moment the koopas came out of their shells, another POW block shook the ground and put them right back in their shells. It was obvious that the mushroom people were using the nearby shop for a healthy supply of POW blocks. It wouldn't be long, though, before more reinforcements of the Koopa Troop arrived.

Sheik had already told everyone in his vicinity to prepare for trouble at the east gate. He had lost contact with Parakarry, Bombette, and Kooper, a short while ago. Just as he gathered a handful of needles, the sky filled with Lakitus and Magikoopas.

"Strike them down!" Sheik yelled, letting his needles fly. The sky filled with fireballs, thunderbolts, and a few falling stars. Every enemy in the sky was seemingly either vaporized or killed in midair from the onslaught. Sheik told everyone to hold their fire, once he was sure that nothing else was in the sky. A few smoldering bodies had fallen down into the plaza.

"You cannot win, heh heh heh," cackled a Magikoopa, dying nearby.

"I beg to differ," Sheik replied, glaring at the pitiful monster.

"By defeating us…you have sealed…your fate," he rasped. "They will destroy you… They will kill everyone… Lord Bowser shall wield the same power as that man."

"What are you going on about?" Shiek asked, somewhat agitated.

"That man… He wields the power of the gods." That phrase rung a bell in Sheik/Zelda's mind.

"What man?" Sheik demanded, picking up the magician by the collar.

"Ha, ha, ha!" the Magikoopa laughed. "Fools…the darkness shall consume you! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" His laugh turned into a hollow echo as he turned to dust and blew away into the wind.

One toad soldier ran up to him hurriedly. "Sir! There are giant Koopas in the western plaza. We're holding them back with POW blocks, but we don't know how much longer that will last. Most creatures keel over after two or three hits from those items."

"Do we have any word from the Master?" Sheik asked.

The toad shook his head. "'Fraid not, sir."

Sheik sighed and told the soldiers to alert him if anything else appeared. He quickly made his way to the Western gate and was somewhat shocked to see the giant turtle shells sitting there.

"Nothing else is working on them, sir," one of the soldiers whispered to him. Sheik tossed a deku nut into one of the shells. The resulting flash startled the Koopa completely out of its shell. When it came to its senses it attempted to hop back in but was stalled by another POW block. Sheik then snapped out a chain whip and wrapped it around the bare Koopa. It growled and pulled back on the chain, pulling Sheik forward with it.

"Now's your chance," Sheik said, somewhat agitatedly. The soldiers realized what he meant and planted a new set of fire flowers. The Koopa screeched from the burning, but refused to back down. Unfortunately, a few gigantic Goombas charged through the gate and kicked the shells, which barreled through the lines of toad soldiers. Now that the line was broken, the Koopas wasted no time in destroying the shop. The Goombas, no longer a walking joke of an enemy, began to chomp down on toad soldiers wherever they could. They even enjoyed the irony of squashing toad soldiers under them.

Sheik retracted the chain whip back up his sleeve and began to defend himself. He broke out into a spinning kick on the ground, knocking away the nearby Goombas, and back flipped away from a snapping Koopa. When four Koopas dived at him from all sides, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared on top of their pile. From there, he tossed a few needles at the Goombas and leapt off. He was suddenly knocked over by a large, sliding Koopa shell. He rolled to the side just in time to avoid being smashed by another diving Koopa. He hopped to his feet and flipped over a Goomba, and kicking it in the back when he landed. With an elbow thrust to a Goomba to the side of him, and a wheel kick to the Koopa in front of him, he was being increasingly overwhelmed.

"Fall back!" he yelled, throwing down a smoke bomb. He returned to the plaza in front of the northern gate just as he saw a giant, barking, black ball on a chain bust through the eastern gate. The giant Chain Chomp snapped at any toad soldier near it, but was somewhat restrained by the chain. It appeared to be pulling something. Another Chain Chomp burst through an adjacent building, nearly tackling its partner. The toad soldiers scrambled to use their fire flowers, but the flames served only to enrage the reddening metal monsters.

"Hold your fire!" Sheik yelled, realizing the ill effects of the fire. One Chomp bowled over another building and tugged on its chain. The other Chomp barked and ate a handful of soldiers. The object they were pulling could now be seen. It was a Bullet Bill Blaster, much like the one that the Master had encountered. Even Sheik could plainly see that it was a large cannon. Then, he saw something approaching from the southern gate that horrified him. They were big, green, only had two front legs, and were setting fire to everything.

"What the heck are those things!" one of the soldiers cried.

"Dodongos?" Sheik murmured. "How did they get here?" He heard a roar behind him and saw the giant Goombas and Koopas charging their way. He saw another cannon being pulled from that direction as well.

"Sir, we must retreat into the castle!" one his soldiers called out, running toward the northern gate. Before he could reach it, a Piranha Plant burst out of the ground and chomped down on him. Two tall Piranha Plants rose from the ground on both sides of it and began to spit fireballs at any toad soldier that remained. Sheik realized that there was no way for him to go through the gate that way, but it was time to go. He leapt into a nearby tree, just as a Koopa shell skidded along the path that he was on. Then he leapt onto the spinning roof of Merlon's former abode. Using the momentum from the spinning roof, he jumped onto the wall that separated the town from the castle grounds and hopped down.

"I've failed," Sheik said to himself shamefully. Already, the enemy was pounding on the gate.

"Not yet," an unknown voice said. He looked to the side and saw what appeared to be a tan-skinned young man wrapped in a blue cape and cap. His eyes, half-covered by the carroty hair sticking out from beneath his cap, had a piercing stare. The figure also seemed to have strange black lines that went straight down from his eyes. "We'll be safe in the castle for now."

"Who are you?" Sheik asked cautiously. This new person didn't look like anyone else in this world.

"I'm an old friend of the princess," the figure smiled lightly. "You can call me Geno."